TL;DR: For the really important stuff, trust these guys…read more Longer version: Was in Ithaca for a family memorial service; thus the ceramics and pottery we were shipping back to California had a great deal of value to us. How do you ship several pounds of bowls, ceramic art and sculptures? Could have used the Post Office, UPS Store, etc...and probably end up with a box of fragments when it arrived. Found Uncle Marty's on Yelp, and was encouraged by the reviews, so we drove the rental with a trunk full of ceramics there. Staff was very understanding, kind, and friendly. At the same time, while they were gentle on the items and very mindful of how to pack them, they were also very conscious of the cost implications, and worked through several different options to find the right number of boxes (and the right sizes) to ship off the items to two different locations (daughter in Chicago, us back in California). While it didn't end up being inexpensive (not Uncle Marty's fault...FedEx ain't never been the cheapest), I am pleased that every single item arrived perfectly packed, safe, and undamaged. I'm not sure if I'll ever find myself again needing to ship things from upstate New York, but if I do I know where I'll go.

I stopped here recently because I used to ship via DHL from my office, but campus is closed and I'm…read morenow not able to schedule a pick-up from the same location. I have a DHL account I've used for charging the cost of shipments; however, the person I spoke with at the front desk of Uncle Marty's while trying to ship out my parcel said that they have a specific retail export account number that all shipments get assigned to when being scheduled for pick-up... so they can't use alternative DHL accounts for charging shipments. When I offered to pay for the shipment with my procurement card, that seemed to be fine... until I inquired further about whether or not duties/fees could be charged to that same procurement card upon their arrival at the destination processing facility (I was shipping to Tanzania, and this is an easy process when shipping via your own DHL account). I've typically ensured our office - as the sender - makes payment on duties/fees for a parcel, at least within the last couple years (it expedites the delivery, and many international institutions in the developing world don't have the easily accessible means to pay for duties/fees on an item that's being provided to them as a donation). Since I wasn't able to ensure that duties/fees would be paid by me/my procurement card as the sender - and I couldn't use my own DHL account - I ended up leaving, parcel in-hand, without being able to get it processed and sent out via Uncle Marty's. I was also able to leave with a single plastic waybill packet, as well as a paper waybill... after specifically requesting both items (more than once). While DHL has certainly preferred folks go through their electronic scheduling system in recent years, that has proven to sometimes be problematic when shipping to certain parts of the world (given the need for indicating villages / areas that aren't especially known)... so I like to have a couple paper waybills handy, and I *HAVE* been able to ship out with paper waybills (i.e. without DHL rejecting the parcel because of a paper waybill) without issue. In the beginning of working from home back in March, I had gone to the Pack & Ship store that used to be on the corner of the Commons to ship out an identical parcel. There? No issues whatsoever (and yes, I used a paper waybill for that parcel). But that store is closed now, so I opted to try Uncle Marty's. Unfortunately, the process isn't as easy here as it was at the store on the Commons (which was so much easier because I was just able to use my DHL account number for any / all charges). TL;DR The explanation above probably includes more complicating factors than most shipments being sent out via Uncle Marty's, but it was my experience. The guy I spoke with at the desk was certainly friendly and answered my questions helpfully (hence the rating), but it's important to know the complicating factors of trying to use your own DHL account, etc.